Peddling Stolen Goods on eBay Not Wise

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

A trio of stolen sports cards were declared safe at home this week after an eBay-savvy Jefferson Parish merchant tracked down the rare collectibles. The game was on after a sports memorabilia dealer noticed that his rare Chris Paul trading card was missing from its usual location in his shop, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said Thursday.

The card, worth $300, bore the signature of the New Orleans Hornets' All-Star playmaker and is one of only a few produced, Bonnett said. The proprietor turned to eBay, eventually finding a match for the rare item, Bonnett said. A check of other items being offered by the same seller revealed he was selling Reggie Jackson and Earl Campbell cards, worth about $450 each, that had been reported stolen by a Baton Rouge merchant, the spokesman said.

The victim let the other merchant know what he had found and, as the clock ran down, they placed winning bids on the items, Bonnett said. They then contacted the seller and asked for his home address so that a money order could be sent, he said. Bonnett praised the "ingenuity the victim showed in tracking down the lost card." Instead of payment, however, St. Tammany Parish deputies arrived on the doorstep of Christian Sather of 40145 Taylor's Trail near Slidell.

During interviews with deputies, Sather admitted selling the cards but would not say where they came from, Bonnett said. Sather, 37, was booked Monday into St. Tammany Parish Jail in Covington with two counts of possession of stolen property. He was released on a $10,000 bond.